Steps to consider to start and grow a company. Basics are provided to help entrepreneurs. Examples may relate to Biotech, Pharma and Medical Device businesses, but the ideas apply to most technology fields.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Agile leaders take care in what they say to others

Take care in what you say!

Many years ago a professor said something that altered my
life. Strange that in speaking with him recently
he never realized the profound effect from a simple comment yelled at me when
he was busy. I have mentioned the
comment in this blog previously and it can be found here.

In a recent discussion with a friend, I relayed the story of the professor.
I was amazed the professor did not even remember
the comment and said, “I hope I said it
nicer than that.” While my friend
and I were talking, he brought up a key point; profound changes in peoples’
lives can come from any onetime comment and the effects can be positive or
negative. That day in graduate school the
comment was hard for me to take, but within a month, I made something positive
from it. I could have taken the comment
and easily gone in a negative direction.
A different comment may have changed me more negatively or positively.

In managing people, we often forget the effect of our words on those
around us. It is easy to say something
that can hurt or help, in addition, it may leave a positive or negative imprint
on the future of an individual. We often
do not know how our message is received and likely forget what was said.

A simple statement or direction given to someone may have no
meaning to you. You may never remember
saying it. With this in mind, it is
important that agile thinking also include taking care of what and how we
convey a message to others. The message may
impact someone in a manner you never envisioned.

Who would have thought that I still recall what was said to me 40
years ago. I remember being angry and
depressed because I did not get what I wanted.
My thoughts of being forced to do something I thought impossible did not
help either. Yet today, I hold those
words to be sound advice and would pass them along to anyone. Hard to believe!

The point of this discussion is that more agile thinkers realize
they may impact others. They try to
build their team up and use them properly.
They encourage and teach them.
They make every effort to communicate more clearly. It is important to
remember that those statements you make may affect someone in ways you never
expected and you will never know it. Try
to encourage those you interact with and learn to help them to become better
than they might be otherwise. You may just
create a friend for life!